DŌS x Avast kalk stirrer part 2!! Help Please!

[Mr.Guy83]

Help please! I have the DoS pump feeding my avast kalk stirrer. The issue I’m having is getting enough water to move through the stirrer to allow the output of kalk into my sump. Last night I disassembled everything and all moving parts are functional.I know with kalk it’s trial and error so I’ve slowly increase the amount and I’m now at 200ml over a 24hr period, which I think the apex breaks that down to (2.1ml every 15 min) however the 2.1 for some reason in my setup is not enough fluid to make the avast “ overflow” to allow the output of kalk. Does the pump simply not pump fast enough to break the tension of kalk I the stirrer? My thought process is if I keep increasing the ML im not dosing what my tank needs but I’m dosing enough to make the reactors over flow which is inaccurate. I would love to hear from anyone anyone running this setup and what are you currently dosing to allow output every time. Or if I need to switch to a faster dosing pump.Or is there a fix to my issue?I can’t post a video for some reason but I will post a picture of the setup.
Thanks

 

[Acroalan]

I dose Kalk by using my Bubble Magus doser to push RO/DI from my ATO reservoir through my Avast stirrer. I'm currently doing 360ml / day dosed in 12 doses and it works just fine. I've collected the outflow from the Avast to measure it and it's pushing the 30ml per dose I expected. So I know dosing in larger portions works for whatever insight that might be worth.

 

[Mr.Guy83]

I dose Kalk by using my Bubble Magus doser to push RO/DI from my ATO reservoir through my Avast stirrer. I'm currently doing 360ml / day dosed in 12 doses and it works just fine. I've collected the outflow from the Avast to measure it and it's pushing the 30ml per dose I expected. So I know dosing in larger portions works for whatever insight that might be worth.

ok thanks a lot that helps, maybe I’ll try increasing the dose to see if that helps. Does the bubble magus dose at a slow or fast speed?

 

[laverda]

My guess is your dosing is back siphoning. This happens when the rollers do not completely seal off the tubing. Time to replace the tubing in the pump heads in that case. The other possibility would be a leak somewhere.
Change your schedule to dose 8.4 ml per hour might be enough to over come the issue. I only dose kalk hourly at night when my PH is lower myself.

 

[Mr.Guy83]

My guess is your dosing is back siphoning. This happens when the rollers do not completely seal off the tubing. Time to replace the tubing in the pump heads in that case. The other possibility would be a leak somewhere.
Change your schedule to dose 8.4 ml per hour might be enough to over come the issue. I only dose kalk hourly at night when my PH is lower myself.

The DOS is brand new so I hope I don’t have to replace anything already. The issue with my setup is I don’t think the DOS will allow you to dose every hr. It automatically divides the doses for you. They always create small doses (which is good in most cases) but seems to be problematic for me

 

[Mr.Guy83]

This is how it looks currently at 360ml over 24hr pd

 

[laverda]

I don't have a dos and refuse to buy any more unreliable overpriced Neptune products. Can't you change the number of times it doses per day? You may have to get out of that automatic programming module and use the custom setup.

 

[nukemdanno]

Could be the way its routed. I have a Kaomer Doser and when I attached the dosing pump in this config--Freshwater supply to kalk reactor to dosing pump to tank-- it would not dose at all. Then i changed the config to Freshwater to dosing pump to kalk reactor and now it works fine. I think the pump wasn't strong enough to pull everything from the reactor.

 

[Mr.Guy83]

Could be the way its routed. I have a Kaomer Doser and when I attached the dosing pump in this config--Freshwater supply to kalk reactor to dosing pump to tank-- it would not dose at all. Then i changed the config to Freshwater to dosing pump to kalk reactor and now it works fine. I think the pump wasn't strong enough to pull everything from the reactor.

Yes I have mine on the second option ro to pump, pump to stirrer, stirrer to sump

 

[ScottB]

Did you get this sorted out? I was going to guess the hose crimps are leaking and need to be tightened.

If you just hold the DOS button to run, you must not be seeing ANY RO water in the line? That would suggest line is losing suction.

 

[Mr.Guy83]

Did you get this sorted out? I was going to guess the hose crimps are leaking and need to be tightened.

If you just hold the DOS button to run, you must not be seeing ANY RO water in the line? That would suggest line is losing suction.

Neptune was kind enough to send me some new parts but I honestly switched to my ecotech versa. I have a constant flow rate 24/7 and it’s been working well for me.

 

[ScottB]

Neptune was kind enough to send me some new parts but I honestly switched to my ecotech versa. I have a constant flow rate 24/7 and it’s been working well for me.

Got it. I am running a CaRx so this is just for lifting pH overnight. Just poking around to find a low maintenance way. DOS is so easy to set & change according to my pH log I can hardly resist going that route.

 

[MasterChief]

Any updates with the DOS on the AVAST reactor? I just ordered this setup and this thread is killing me
Are you able to control the dose amount based on PH values? Thats the only reason I bought the dos and not the kamoer pump.

 

[Mr.Guy83]

Any updates with the DOS on the AVAST reactor? I just ordered this setup and this thread is killing me
Are you able to control the dose amount based on PH values? Thats the only reason I bought the dos and not the kamoer pump.

Hey there! Yea for whatever reason the DoS was still giving me trouble. I switched over to a ecotech versa doser and worked flawlessly. I’ve since removed the avast doser and gone to strictly b ionic two part and so far so good. The coralline algae growth has slowed but numbers are stable

 

[ScottB]

Any updates with the DOS on the AVAST reactor? I just ordered this setup and this thread is killing me
Are you able to control the dose amount based on PH values? Thats the only reason I bought the dos and not the kamoer pump.

I will be curious to hear what others say. In theory you could easily have APEX control either pump for dosing kalk from a stirrer or reactor, having it turn on when PH <= 8.3 and otherwise turn off.

In practice, I would consider at least one fail-check and I am likely missing others.

I would set a hard limit on the maximum number of MLs dosed in a 24 hour period. This is a different value for every tank, but there are reasons why NOT limiting could be problematic.
a) pH probes drift. pH probe signals can be interfered with by other electric things.
b) Your kalk solution/concentration is dynamic. If it gets too diluted, it may never stop pumping RO.

You could also take a more simple approach as I have done. My DOS kicks on only after the lights go down. It feeds RO water into the large Reef Octopus kalk stirrer which then overflows the same amount into my sump return section. I check my pH logs and adjust each interval as needed to hold my pH. I have been taking it slow so I don't overcook it.

 

[MasterChief]

I will be curious to hear what others say. In theory you could easily have APEX control either pump for dosing kalk from a stirrer or reactor, having it turn on when PH <= 8.3 and otherwise turn off.

In practice, I would consider at least one fail-check and I am likely missing others.

I would set a hard limit on the maximum number of MLs dosed in a 24 hour period. This is a different value for every tank, but there are reasons why NOT limiting could be problematic.
a) pH probes drift. pH probe signals can be interfered with by other electric things.
b) Your kalk solution/concentration is dynamic. If it gets too diluted, it may never stop pumping RO.

You could also take a more simple approach as I have done. My DOS kicks on only after the lights go down. It feeds RO water into the large Reef Octopus kalk stirrer which then overflows the same amount into my sump return section. I check my pH logs and adjust each interval as needed to hold my pH. I have been taking it slow so I don't overcook it.

I am essentially going the route you are using. I will use the DOS to feed the reactor x amount of mil's at night for the ph bump. I let the regular ato make anything else up during the day.

 

[ScottB]

I am essentially going the route you are using. I will use the DOS to feed the reactor x amount of mil's at night for the ph bump. I let the regular ato make anything else up during the day.

I have been taking it slow, increasing the MLs each day. My calcium reactor has been bouncing around a bit but now that I have that sorted I can a little faster. My guess is it will take a couple liters over the 12 hour period to keep pH at 8.1 minimum.

Just trying to figure out how this can go wrong before I really open it up. About 1/2 a liter right now keeps 7.9 overnight.

 

[laverda]

It can go wrong if you apex turns your dosing pump to "ON" instead of auto and empties your kalk container. And like mine did and not send any alarms when the PH spiked above 8.3 as it should have.